This wide street to the West of York Minster owes its existence to Augustus Duncombe, Dean of York.

York Minster viewed from Duncombe Place, 2009

Under him in 1860 properties were acquired and then demolished in what was Little Blake Street and Lop Lane to give a wide vista of the Minster to travellers arriving over the relatively new Lendal Bridge (which itself was built to get rail travellers to the more fashionable quarters of York as quickly as possible).

With the exception of having the new thoroughfare named after himself, it must be said that Duncombe didn’t do a bad job. Duncombe Place frames the western towers of the Minster very well indeed.

The Dean certainly did better than the architects of St Wilfrid’s Church, the Catholic church halfway along Duncombe Place. They deliberately built St Wilfrid’s so that, to a traveller arriving from Lendal Bridge, its tower would appear to dwarf those of the Minster. As anyone can clearly see, they failed.

Duncombe Place also features one of York’s many war memorials, the stage entrance to the Theatre Royal, and a fine hotel in Best Western’s Dean Court, which comes highly recommended and is an excellent spot for afternoon tea.

At the far end of Duncombe Place is the Red House, a townhouse once considered so fine that the city tried to buy it as a permanent residence for its Lord Mayor.

Continue your York tour
Go north-east to Minster Yard and York Minster
Go north to St Leonard’s Place towards York Art Gallery, the Theatre Royal, the city walls and Bootham Bar
Go south to St Helen’s Square via The Assembly Rooms and Blake Street
Go south-west to Museum Street towards the public library, Lendal Bridge, the City Walls and the rail station.